We are frequently mentioned in international media, and invited to share our thoughts at well-regarded events across the globe. Our companies get extensive coverage.
Senior analyst Jasmine Toh represents Singapore at ASEAN-China Young Entrepreneur Forum in CambodiaQuest Ventures’ senior analyst Jasmine Toh represented Singapore at the ASEAN-China Young Entrepreneur Forum held in Cambodia. Toh was the head of the Singapore delegation.
Cambodia’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation H.E. Luy David presided over the ASEAN-China Young Entrepreneur Forum organised in Siem Reap province from Sept. 3 to 5 under the theme “Role of Emerging Youth and Women Entrepreneurs in Economic Development.” More
Venture partner Jeffrey Seah moves into blockchain technology spaceQuest Ventures’ venture partner Jeffrey Seah has joined Gravity4 (G4), a marketing cloud platform specialising in artificial intelligence and big data. Seah will join the company’s advisory board, which is now focused on developing blockchain technologies to eliminate ad fraud.
Seah said that blockchain has the ability to address the “unwieldy and opaque supply chain” in marketing and advertising technology. Through the technology, the company aims to establish transparency and trust by creating a central and secure way to record, review and execute deals.
“With Gravity4 heavily investing in blockchain, we’ll be able to eliminate ad fraud and provide personalised experiences to eliminate the need for ad blockers, a solution the industry desperately needs,” Seah said. More
Hapz bukan sekadar jualan tiketUntuk mengembangkan aplikasinya, Selasa (1/8) lalu Hapz mendapatkan pendanaan senilai US$ 501.200 dari sejumlah investor. Yakni, Cocoon Capital, Quest Ventures, TinkBig Venture, dan SPH Media Fund, serta seorang investor malaikat (angel investor) yang tak diungkap namanya.
Hapz memang butuh banyak suntikan dana untuk mengembangkan platformnya. Soalnya, persaingan di bisnis tiket online di kawasan Asia Tenggara terbilang sengit. More
Singapore top draw for startup professionals? Not so simpleThe Startup Cities Index found Singapore to have outperformed 84 of the 85 ranked cities in five areas – startup ecosystem, salary, social security and benefits, cost of living and quality of life.
James Tan, managing partner of venture capital firm Quest Ventures, didn’t buy all the findings. For starters, he said, the number of vacation days – one of three indicators of social security and benefits – are “irrelevant” to startups.
He said: “To founders, there is often no concept of weekends or public holidays. In comparison to their multinational corporation competitors, startups neither have the luxury of time nor money. So they need to move fast. If they work one Saturday more than the large companies, these startups would have done 20 per cent more work.”
James also added that safety, often overlooked for the sake of opportunity, ought to be a key driver for people. “Our multi-cultural, multilingual and multi-religion environment creates a comfortable base from which everyone from around the world should feel welcome to start the next big thing.” More
Quest Ventures participates in panel to launch research on Singapore startup ecosystem at LaunchPadJTC LaunchPad @ one-north has matured into a dynamic ecosystem for startups, according to latest research findings by TechSG. For starters, the number of tenants (startups and facilitators such as angel investors, venture capitalists and legal firms) grew 65% to 425 from November 2015 to March 2017.
Interestingly, LaunchPad startups have a higher degree of “ecosystem engagement” compared to tech startups in Singapore. 80% of LaunchPad startups are found to have participated in at least one government funding scheme, versus 64.2% of tech startups. Nearly 40% of LaunchPad startups have received venture capital funding, versus 15.8% of tech startups.
As LaunchPad’s largest private tenant and earliest venture fund, Quest Ventures’ managing partner James Tan was invited to be on the panel to discuss the findings, along with Vinod Nair, CEO of MoneySmart; Mohan Belani, CEO of e27; Patricia Polizzi, CEO of Startup Autobahn Singapore; and Professor Wong Poh Kam, Director of NUS Enterprise. More
Hapz raises $500k seed round from investors including Quest VenturesEvent-tech platform Hapz has raised S$680,000 ($499,595) in seed funding from Cocoon Capital, SPH Media Fund, Quest Ventures, TinkBig Venture and an angel investor.
The firm said it will use the proceeds to expand its team and build partnerships with merchants and event organisers across verticals and through the region.
A company representative told this portal that the investment rationale behind this for investors lay in it being a new market, with “no existing player in the S.E.A region who can do cross-border experience booking.” More
Quest Ventures provides seed funding for event platform HapzEvent platform Hapz has raised seed funding of $680,000 from Cocoon Capital, SPH Media Fund, Quest Ventures, TinkBig Venture and an angel investor.
SPH Media Fund chief executive Chua Boon Ping said: “We have been involved with Hapz since their early days as it was one of our accelerator start-ups. We like the value propositions that Hapz brings to both merchants and consumers. For consumers, it means getting better deals, powered by Hapz’s dynamic-pricing algorithm. And for merchants, Hapz provides a channel to promote events.” More
Have GCC Islamic banking and financial services failed to innovate?Have Islamic banking and financial services innovated at the speed they were expected to? Rushdi Siddiqui, mentor at Quest Ventures was invited to comment.
“There are industry insiders who have been making similar arguments for a long time now. Rushdi Siddiqui, who is now Advisor at Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and Mentor at VC firm Quest Ventures, and is an industry veteran, says Islamic finance is deeply linked to oil/commodity prices and hence remains as volatile as price per barrel of oil.
“When oil is $80/barrel, surpluses exist, infrastructure projects are many, banks are lending to SMEs, and non-Muslim countries want part of the petro-liquidity. Conversely, when the price bandwidth is $35-50/barrel, there is a lot of pain for governments, SMEs, banks, and consumerism,” Siddiqui wrote as early as late last year.” More
SPRING Singapore appoints Quest Ventures as an Accredited Mentor Partner (AMP) under Startup SG FounderQuest Ventures is pleased to announce that we are now an Accredited Mentor Partner under the Startup SG Founder program after a comprehensive, multi-agency evaluation process.
“The 17 AMPs range across different industries from manufacturing, fintech, digital commerce and medical technologies.
An evaluation panel with representatives from SPRING, National Research Foundation (NRF), Economic Development Board (EDB), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), deliberated on the selection. The AMPs were assessed on a set of criteria which included the track record of management team and quality of development programmes.” More
Meet the VC: Quest Ventures on why Chinese founders are tougher than Singaporean entrepreneurs“James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, expounds on the strengths and shortcomings of Singapore startups and the state of the Chinese tech ecosystem.”
“Needless to say, the founders (of Quest Ventures) know first-hand how difficult it is to build and scale a startup sustainably. e27 spoke with Tan, who is currently based in China, to gather his thoughts of the state of Singapore’s tech ecosystem, and how it matches up to the US and China.” More
Mapping out growth“Since the time that James Tan started Quest Ventures in 2011, it has funded some of the top startups in Southeast Asia including Carousell, 99.co, ShopBack, Ethis, Xfers, and Oddle.me, among many others. It remains focused on startups that have scalability and replicability in large Internet communities.”
“We continue to scan the horizon for the next big thing to bet on. We are usually the first cheque or investment into a tech startup so this means we are unusually forward-looking and can take a long term view on investments that few can,” says James. “Our DNA is deeply entrepreneurial. All our staff are hands-on and work hard side-by-side with entrepreneurs whom we consider part of our family. The Quest family is very close knit.” More
Impact on tech with changes in US visa rulesThe Straits Times asked Quest Ventures’ managing partner, James Tan, for his opinion on the changes surrounding the issuance of H1B work visas for employment in the United States.
Asked if the changes in visa rules and cost will affect tech workers based in the US or force tech workers to reconsider the US as a work destination, James said, “If one qualifies for the visa, why wouldn’t it be worth it to stay on, especially in tech and in the Bay Area? While the visa is important, its cost nonetheless pales against the opportunities and costs of living in the US.” More
Fostering StartupsIn a cover story for the ASEAN Edition of the China Daily, Quest Ventures’ James Tan was interviewed along with Edith Yeung of 500 Startups, and Duncan Logan of RocketSpace.
James said, “Before, China was a few years behind the West. Now, it is a few days behind… Chinese money moves faster, is more aggressive and makes decisions more quickly.”
Commenting on the financial front, however, Tan noted that the ‘white hot’ startup scene is headed for a correction in valuation. “You’re already seeing it in India, but it hasn’t occurred in China.”
Singapore No. 1 in world for start-up talent: ReportThe Straits Times covered the latest report from Startup Genome and remarked that “perhaps the biggest surprise coming out of a 150-page research report covering 10,000 start-ups and 300 partner companies worldwide is that tiny Singapore has overthrown tech centre Silicon Valley as the world’s No. 1 for start-up talent.”
“The Republic also has the sixth-highest percentage of immigrant founders at 35 per cent.
“Singapore is an open society and welcomes entrepreneurs from around the world to create the next big thing here,” said Mr James Tan, managing partner of Asian technology venture fund Quest Ventures.”
Besides Quest Ventures, Dr Alex Lin of SGInnovate, Mr Lim Der Shing of JobsCentral Group and Mr Tiang Lim Foo of SeedPlus were also quoted. More
新加坡政府拨2亿元入起步新加坡投资计划新加坡政府将拨出2亿元入“起步新加坡投资”计划，用来投资在进行深奥科技的起步公司。政府也拨款2000万元入“起步新加坡创办人”计划，协助首次开办公司者创业。
国家发展部兼贸工部政务部长许宝琨医生今天在纬壹科技城起步谷三座新大楼的入伙庆祝会致词时， 针对在贸工部拨款委员会国会辩论上公布的一系列“起步新加坡”计划做进一步说明。
身为新加坡创业行动社群副主席的求索创投管理合伙人陈中、新加坡标新局总裁、裕廊集团副总裁及其他高级代表联合主持仪式并参观起步谷。 More
S$20m for first-time entrepreneurs under Startup SG initiativeA budget of S$20 million will be set aside under the Startup SG initiative to support first-time entrepreneurs. This was announced by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon on Wednesday (Mar 22) at an event marking the opening of three new blocks at JTC LaunchPad @ one-north.
As Deputy Chairman of ACE and responsible for driving internationalisation, Quest Ventures’ managing partner James Tan co-hosted the launch and site tour together with Poon Hong Yuen, CEO of SPRING Singapore; Alvin Tan, Assistant CEO of JTC; and other senior representatives. More
Startup Genome quotes Quest Ventures in report on global startup ecosystemsIn a wide-ranging report that covered startup ecosystems around the globe, JF Gautheir, Founder and CEO of Startup Genome, said, “our (startup) culture is special and truly global… people who are busy working on their own ideas and organisations frequently take the time to make (introductions, favours, connections)”.
Beijing and Shanghai appeared in the report for the first time, and immediately leaped into 4th and 8th respectively, pushing Singapore to the 12th position from its previous 10th.
Singapore has the 6th highest Percentage of Immigrant Founders in the world at 35%. It also has the 3rd highest level of Global Connectedness of all top 20 ecosystems outperforming even Silicon Valley.
Invited to provide a human perspective to the data, Quest Ventures’ James Tan was quoted: “Singapore is an open society and welcomes entrepreneurs around the world to create the next big thing here.” More
Cafebond.com on bringing Australia’s best coffee beans to SingaporeAccessing the world of fashion and contemporary culture through an Asian lens, Buro 24/7 interviewed Cafebond.com co-founders Eugene Chen and Keyis Ng.
They described how their experience with great coffee in Melbourne inspired them to go “online to find a way to purchase coffee from Melbourne, only to find out that some cafes do not ship outside of Australia. For those that did, the shipping fees ended up costing more than the bag of beans itself.”
Asked about the “most interesting person” they have met on the job, they answered, “It would be James Tan, the managing partner of Quest Ventures – Cafebond.com’s first investor. James is also one the very first investors to bolster top local start-ups such as Carousell, 99.co, and Burpple. He has been very supportive. Given his wealth of experience, we’ve learnt a lot from him as an investor and mentor.” More
Singapore startup founders talk about their first investors, and the meetings that started it allVulcan Post profiles how Singapore start-ups met their first investors, with companies Carousell, Burpple, and 99.co among the interviewees.
“Needless to say, not all investments pay off due to many reasons, but there are some investors who somehow have the Midas touch when it comes to identifying potential successes.”
The common investor across these companies? James Tan of Quest Ventures. More
Singapore company creates karaoke device named Popsical that fits in one’s handThe Straits Times covers a new piece of hardware backed by Quest Ventures.
“Shaped like a disc, weighing a mere 150g and fitting into the palm of your hand, Popsical does not look like the average karaoke machine. But plug it into any sound system and TV and you can be belting out your favourite songs to background music.
Popsical works with a mobile app that contains an ever-expanding music library of more than 30,000 ditties ranging from the classics to the latest hits in more than eight languages including English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Hindi and Thai.
About $475,000 in investments has come from companies such as Quest Ventures, the venture capital firm that backed online marketplace app Carousell.” More
Large corporates raise the gameThe Straits Times asks VCs to round up key developments in 2016 and look ahead to 2017’s biggest trends.
It notes that while the sector has grown immensely, in both breadth and depth amid a maturing venture capital landscape and a rising number of companies displaying regional or global aspirations, it still needs to develop in deep-tech areas like robotics.
“Fintech has been significantly hyped up by the ecosystem. More attention will be put on fintech and on attracting foreign teams to set up in Singapore,” says Mr James Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, “There is a push for ‘deeper’ tech but I am not seeing interesting start-ups in areas such as robotics. We need to focus on the areas that are tackling real-life problems in this region, and not just Singapore.” More
23 influential people in tech putting Singapore on the world mapQuest Ventures’ Managing Partner James Tan made the list of 23 “influential people” in the technology scene who are putting their marks on the world and making Singapore proud at the same time.
Quest Ventures has “invested heavily in many recognisable tech startups in Singapore, some you have already seen on this list (99.co, Carousell), as well as some others like Shopback, Carro…”
James “has steered Quest Ventures into becoming one of the leading VC firms in both China and Singapore, especially when investing in tech related startups.” More
人在旧金山，心系新加坡求索创投管理合伙人兼新加坡创业行动社群副主席陈中在美国硅谷举行的首届新加坡日上和新加坡副总理及嘉宾举行了新加坡创业行动社群硅谷分社的成立仪式，并在座谈会上以其他政府机构嘉宾发表讲话。
新加坡副总理兼国家安全统筹部长张志贤在节目里说：“我们很高兴 第一次把新加坡日带到美国西岸。我们也希望让新加坡跟充满活力的旧金山湾区建立关系，因为这里有很多的科技起步公司。”
在新加坡日上，副总理张志贤也为创业行动社群在硅谷所设立的分社举行成立仪式。创业行动社群是一个非牟利组织，通过提供拨款、协助成立联系网络等方式鼓励和推动新加坡起步公司的发展。
创业行动社群执行董事潘俊璁说：“创业行动社群硅谷分社之所以会产生，主要是因为我们向不少起步公司了解到他们处在朝新加坡以外地方拓展的阶段。当他们要在美国设立公司时，他们需要联系网，需要有人帮忙。我们意识到这是一个难题，我们需要已经在这里的新加坡人的帮忙，帮助其他国人来到美国硅谷创业。” More
To do an MBA or not, that is the questionQuest Ventures’ Managing Partner James Tan was mentioned in this article on the value of an MBA. Dave McClure of 500 Startups was quoted, while Grab founders and public officials were highlighted.
“In the public sector, notable examples include Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing, who was in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 12-month Sloan Fellows programme, as well as Senior Minister of State for Defence Ong Ye Kung, who has an MBA from the Institute of Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Ms Grace Fu, the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, has an MBA from NUS.
For those interested in joining start-ups or looking for a partner to start one, business school seems like a good place to begin.
Other examples include Grab founders Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, who met at Harvard Business School and came up with the idea that won them runner-up position in the school’s business plan contest, as well as Mr Roger Egan and Mr Vikram Rupani, who met at Insead and went on to start online grocery service RedMart.
Another success story is Mr James Tan, co-founder of China’s second-largest group buying site 55tuan, now called Wowo.
It listed on Nasdaq last year, raising about US$37.3 million. Mr Tan hit on his winning idea when he went to Tsinghua University in Beijing for a two-year MBA in 2008 and met his four co-founders.” More
As JFDI pivots to corporate sector, does the start-up scene need to do the same?Quest Ventures’ Managing Partner James Tan was interviewed for his opinion on the recent closure of the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator’s (JFDI) accelerator programme, one of the earliest accelerators in Southeast Asia.
James said that “accelerators provide a ‘soft landing ground’ for start-up founders, and those who fail to build their own start-up would have gained experience for their next venture” and that “through SG-Innovate, there will be more accelerators tackling different verticals.”
Alex Lin, head of Infocomm Investments Pte Ltd (IIPL); Ken Ng, CEO of insurer NTUC Income; and Lim Kuo-Yi, managing partner of Monk Hill’s Ventures also provided their opinions. More
ACE Silicon Valley Chapter to help Singapore tech start-ups tap into US networks and in-market expertiseIn conjunction with Singapore Day in San Francisco, California on 24 Sep 2016, the ACE Silicon Valley Chapter was launched by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Mr Teo Chee Hean. With this initiative, ACE will be partnering with the Bay Area Tech Singaporeans (BATS) to help Singaporean tech start-ups tap on in-market expertise and networks in the US so as to provide access to the US market with greater ease.
As Deputy Chairman of ACE and responsible for driving internationalisation, Quest Ventures’ managing partner James Tan, with the chairpersons of BATS and SingaporeConnect, launched the chapter together with DPM Teo. More
Back to School – Views from Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Quest Ventures’ James Tan and others on Asia’s appetite for educationAs students head back to school after the summer break, CNBC Asia interviewed entrepreneurs and investors for their views on education.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma described the education landscape in China and what he wanted to do for education in the rural areas. He was followed by James Tan, managing partner at Quest Ventures. James described the EdTech landscape in Southeast Asia, the scale of the difference in investments between China and the US, and the opportunity to use technology to level the playing field for students in frontier markets who may not have access to good local education resources. More
Mobile classifieds startup Carousell makes first acquisition weeks after raising $35MWatch Over Me has been acquired by Carousell. As the first investor in both companies, Quest Ventures was actively involved in the exit and is delighted with the possibilities that this acquisition brings for both companies.
“Less than a month after raising $35 million in new financing, social commerce and classifieds startup Carousell has made its first acquisition. The Singapore-based company has picked up most of the team from Watch Over Me, a safety app for principally for women that is based in Malaysia, in an acquihire deal that beefs up its engineering chops.” More
Startup Weekend Singapore draws huge interest from aspiring entrepreneursQuest Ventures managing partner James Tan joins Vishal Harnal of 500 Startups, Arthur Brejon of Lazada Singapore, Rob Finlay of DBS Fintech incubator and Nicolas Chaussin of Aviva on the final day of the 2016 Startup Weekend Singapore to be part of the judging panel.
At his opening remarks, James highlighted the track record of Startup Weekend Singapore in discovering startups that have gone on to great heights, specifically Carousell (started as SnapSell by Startup Weekend participants) and VulcanPost (started by Startup Weekend organisers) that Quest had invested in. More
YT Start-Up Deal Tracker: The Fight For FundsEntrepreneurs should raise capital when it is available and not when it is required. “You want the confidence that you can run your business for the next 12 months at least. You’d be able to give that confidence to your employees… Make sure that you run the business frugally, have enough cash for the next 12 to 18 months, don’t wait till the last minute to raise the next round, in fact if the times are good and even if you have money, go and raise the next round”, says Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder & former CEO of Infosys, and now Partner at Axilor Ventures.
In this segment on funding, CNBC India also spoke with Shashank ND, Co-Founder & CEO of Practo; Girish Mathrubootham, Founder & CEO of Freshdesk; and James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures. More
Indian Startup Ecosystem Versus China – More Similarities Than DifferencesSneha Banerjee, Senior Correspondent at Entrepreneur India, interviews James Tan for a feature in one of India’s most well-read magazines.
“On the qualities the firm looks for in an entrepreneur, James said that he doesn’t particularly check whether an entrepreneur is a product or a business person because ultimately every founder has to have a team. “No one is an all-rounder. Even Jack Ma has a team behind him. We want to see whether the team members of a startup compliment each other and there must be a little bit of “healthy” competition between so that they drive each other along”, he added.“ More
Investors rush to fund China tech start-upsThe Straits Times interviewed two venture capitalists in China, GGV‘s Jenny Lee based in Shanghai and Quest Ventures’ James Tan based in Beijing, for their thoughts on the funding landscape in China, and the opportunities and risks that are present in this gold rush.
“According to research firm Preqin, private investors had poured around US$26.2 billion (S$35 billion) into 796 Chinese tech firms as of the middle of this month.
Beijing-based James Tan… find Chinese tech firms to be very good at localising new ideas from Silicon Valley and achieving superior results on the mainland.” More
Quest Ventures now a co-investment partner with Malaysia’s Cradle FundQuest Ventures inks co-investment partnership with Cradle Fund, an agency under Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia (Ministry of Finance), becoming a part of the MYR200 million (USD50.92 million) co-investment war chest for Malaysian tech startups. More
Dana Pelaburan Bersama Cradle Bernilai RM161.2 Juta Dengan 6 Lagi Rakan KongsiFirma dana modal teroka, Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd bekerjasama dengan enam lagi rakan pelaburan bersama untuk menyokong syarikat permulaan teknologi Malaysia, menjadikan dana pelaburan bersama kini bernilai RM161.2 juta berbanding RM159.2 juta dalam kumpulan kelimanya pada Februari.
Enam rakan kongsi baharu itu dan Quest Ventures — menjadikan Cradle Fund mempunyai 25 rakan pelaburan bersama ekuiti berbanding 19 pada masa ini. More
His startup survived 5,000 rivals in China to list on Nasdaq. Here’s what he learned.Managing partner James Tan was interviewed by Tech in Asia on execution and going public. James was the first Singaporean founder in the C-suite to list a Chinese tech company on NASDAQ. This came after several hurdles were crossed, including new Chinese regulations on ownership that affected all foreign-listed entities (eg, Baidu). Going public with about $1 billion in gross merchandise volume, 55tuan was the first O2O Chinese company to list, and the first tech IPO of a Chinese company on NASDAQ that year. More
Cafebond, a new e-commerce startup aims to bring the liveliness of the Australian coffee culture to specialty coffee lovers in Singapore. Their website started taking orders on June 1, and the startup already has plans to penetrate coffee markets in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong with the backing of Chinese investment giant Quest Ventures. More
Quest Ventures selects 2016 WIT Indonesia Start-Up of the YearAn “admittedly intimidating judging panel of industry experts, including Kei Shibata (Venture Republic), David Peller (Booking.com), Brett Henry (AngelVest) and Timothy Hughes (Agoda), Kusumo Martanto (GDP Venture), Steven Vanada (Cyber Agent Ventures), and James Tan (Quest Ventures)”, selected Deepdive as WIT Indonesia’s Start-Up of the Year after several rounds of pitching competition. More
求索创投及安芙兰创投，长石资本，泽厚资本等创投机构联合主办走近投资人活动。#走近投资人#系列活动自2012年11月开展以来，活动城市包括北京、上海、深圳、成都、青岛、烟台等，截至2015年12月，累计200+名投资人（其中合伙人60+名）、120+家知名早期投资机构、2000+个经过筛选的优质早期创业者参加活动现场交流、参加活动的企业中已经有N(N>20)家顺利获得投资。 More
Quest for the BestIn this cover story, Quest Ventures Managing Partner, James Tan, tells The Edge Markets what he looks for in startups, why he enjoys kopitiam sessions and why he thinks you should drop out of school if you need to.
“Although small, it has an impressive track record… When selecting start-ups to invest in, Tan says he looks first for ideas that are both scalable and replicable. “We try to differentiate between scale and replication,” he says. “If you go from a $1 million business in Kuala Lumpur to a $10 million business, that’s scale. But to move from KL to Penang, and from Penang to Bangkok, that’s replication. That’s not scaling.” More
Quest Ventures-backed SGAG joins Tech In Asia Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. Today SGAG’s content is consumed by over 3 million people weekly across our 6 content distribution platforms with the mission to make every Singaporean’s day a better one. Ask them anything! More
Quest Ventures-backed Cafebond named “Most Decorated Booth” at Tech In Asia Singapore 2016, out of 200 aspiring startup booths that exhibited at the Boothstrap Alley. More
A Singaporean acquisition story you have never heardBefore Block 71, before heavy government support, AllDealsAsia was paving the way for startups in Singapore; and now it has been acquired. Co-founder Goh Yiping is a venture partner at Quest Ventures. More
Echelon Indonesia 2016Goh Yiping, founding member & CPO of MatahariMall.com and venture partner of Quest Ventures discusses best practices in product management for startups at Echelon 2016 in Jarkata. More
Backed by Quest Ventures, Spiking, a home-grown app that gives investors up-to-the-minute information on share trades went live yesterday. Spiking allows investors to make better sense of spikes in stock prices by sending instant information to their phones on trades made by company directors and substantial shareholders. More
WIT Ajak Startup Founders Ikuti Startup Pitch CompetitionPenyelenggara mencari ide-ide terobosan dan menerima pengusaha yang pintar dan cerdas untuk ambil bagian. Ini adalah kesempatan bagi para startup founders untuk dilatih oleh para praktisi dunia digital dan mendapat spotlight pada Konferensi WIT Indonesia 2016. Adapun juri dari kompetisi ini antara lain James Tan (Managing Partner, Quest Ventures), Steven Vanada (Cyber Agent Ventures Indonesia), Kei Shibata (CEO, Venture Republic, Japan), Kusumo Martanto (COO, GDP Venture). More
ChinaBang Awards 2016Quest Ventures’ Associate Director, West China, Cheng Lei joins VC Meetup session at ChinaBang Awards in Chengdu, China. The annual ChinaBang Awards searches for the most promising and valuable startups in China with the aim of founding China’s innovation. More
Online Panel: Startup ecosystem in ChinaChina has always been on the radar scopes of many in the startup industry. Tech In Asia puts together a panel of experts to answer any questions you have about the ecosystem in China. This Online Panel lineup features: James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, Rui Ma, and Junde Yu. More
Quest Ventures’ analyst joins Asia Beat 2016 as a judge at its startup battle. Asia Beat 2016 gathered over 3000 participants, around hundred Asian startup projects and representatives of numerous investment firms from China and around the world. More
Carousell旋轉拍賣是現今東南亞成長最快速且最大的C2C行動拍賣平台之一，由500Startups、QuestVC等多创投的投资，今年3月任命Airbnb前東南亞區域總監蔡家驥為Carousell旋轉拍賣新任國際副總裁。More
当小贩也要终身学习创业行动社群董事成员之一的求索创投（QuestVC）管理合伙人陈中受访时指出，本地创业环境过去五年有了巨大变化。创业不再被视为一项遥不可及的梦想，就算创业失败也“不再是件丢脸的事”。More
Carousell為提供用戶更便利、更完整的服務，正式於iOS及Android雙系統同步推出「社團」功能。QuestVC等多家創投公司的投資，致力於建立最佳的社群電商平台，激發更多人開始參與社群拍賣。More
Pingping Lin：ONOS——面向运营商网络的SDN操作系统Burpple, a digital guide to restaurants and cafes in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur has received up to US$6 million (S$8.45 million) to expand into other Asian cities. Launched in 2012 by three Singaporeans, the company’s existing shareholders include Neoteny Labs, Silicon Straits, NUS Technologies Holdings and QuestVC. More
Online panel: Ask our panelist anything about IndonesiaGoh Yiping, co-founder and CEO of AllDealsAsia, venture partner of QuestVC, and CPO of MatahariMall.com, joins a panel that includes Ong Peng Tsin of Monk’s Hill Ventures and Teddy Himler of Softbank to discuss everyone’s favourite topic: Indonesia. More
“Winter is coming” – Chinese startups face market downturnJames Tan, managing partner of Quest Ventures, titled his talk ‘Winter is coming.’ He said 25% of Chinese startups were funded in just the past year and a half, growth that not only couldn’t continue but that would reverse amid China’s stock market sell-off… More
QuestVC analyzes China funding landscape at 8×8 forum organised by Chinaccelerator in Beijing. More
NUSRI-FLEX Global Business Plan Challenge Successfully ConcludesOrganised by the “China-Singapore (Suzhou) Innovation Center”, the NUS Research Institute – Flex Global Business Plan Challenge held its finals in Suzhou. Finalists tackled smart city issues such as pollution, water resources and IOT. The panel of judges was chaired by QuestVC managing partner James Tan and made up of representatives from the Suzhou government, venture capital firms and Flex. More
大唐电信移动互联孵化平台核心引擎 369Cloud“千人招募计划”正式开启求索创投合伙伙伴王赟明，天天投创始人崔鹏，市科委中小型创新基金评审专家司徒晓南，清华经管创业联盟理事会刘勇， IC咖啡创始人胡运旺，91金融创始人兼CEO许泽玮，IT桔子创始人兼CEO为飞翔等纷纷发言。More
I’m James Tan, Managing Partner at QuestVC. AMA!James Tan, Managing Partner of QuestVC, takes part in Tech In Asia Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. He took questions on his entrepreneurial journey, the startup and investment scene in China and living in China, generating more than 200 comments by the time the session concluded. More
Quick tips about entering China and Singapore if you’re a startupJerry Ku, partner at international law firm Gunderson Dettmer, and Chinese venture capital firm QuestVC managing partner James Tan attempted to paint a picture of setting up a business in China. It’s a tougher proposition than Singapore, but one that can be very rewarding due to sheer market size. More
Winners of the Global Mobile Challenge EmergeConcluding half a year of acceleration and competition in many countries in Europe, Middle East, the US, China and Asia-Pacific, regional finalists gathered at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, to compete in the grand finals of the Global Mobile Challenge. QuestVC managing partner James Tan participated as a jury member together with members of the board of the Applied Innovation Institute (non-profit organiser of the GMC).
After months of grueling competition, Claco Music (Taiwan), Erdo (Taiwan) and Jetbay (China) emerged winners at the inaugural SEAMAC Asia Pacific Mobile App Challenge. More
After months of competition, three teams emerged victorious in the inaugural SEAMAC Asia Pacific Mobile App Challenge. The panel of 10 judges who selected the three winners from a field of 26 finalists included Jeffrey Paine, Founding Partner of Golden Gate Ventures; David Dacus, Founder & CEO of HitPlay; James Tan, Managing Partner of QuestVC… More
James Tan, Managing Partner of QuestVC, will talk about how foreign tour operators can share in China’s inbound travel market. China is also the focus of the topic of online marketing. More
Managing partner at QuestVC, James Tan discusses how Indonesia can learn from developed startup ecosystems overseas at the Startup Asia Jakarta 2014. More
Carousell has raised a series A round worth US$6 million led by prominent venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and investment will be used for expansion into Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Early investors include QuestVC and NUS Enterprise. More
StartupAsia Jakarta Highlights of Day 1At Startup Asia Jakarta, managing partner James Tan takes the stage with Rebright Partners and Silicon Valley Asia Technology Alliance.
James Tan said “China is unique but closed” in terms of language and the prohibitions put on the market. But the unique Chinese landscape still holds lessons for Indonesia in terms of localization, as seen with the local success of firms like Alibaba and Baidu. More
Managing partner of QuestVC, James Tan, founder of the Silicon Valley Asia Technology Alliance, Sonita Lontoh and founding partner of Rebright Partners venture capital firm, Takeshi Ebihara, will take the stage to discuss the Indonesia tech ecosystem. More
QuestVC joins DBS BusinessClass’ panel of advisorsDBS launches programme to help start-ups and SMEs grow their business and network across Asia. Start-ups and SMEs can now seek business advice and opportunities across Asia with DBS BusinessClass.
Lim Chu Chong, Head of SME Banking, DBS Bank said, “… fast-growing SMEs need help connecting with investors and experts when they are scaling up their business… we hope to help SME owners build social capital and sharpen their competitive edge.” More
En Chine, le passage au numérique des secteurs traditionnels continue de manière implacable. Ce qui est hors ligne va passer en ligne. Ce n’est qu’une question de temps. More
Innovation in E-CommerceQuestVC participates in Ecommerce one to one, sharing the stage with Accel Partners to discuss international e-commerce trends. As the only representative from Asia at the event, managing partner James Tan described the fast-moving landscape in Asia and the challenges and opportunities available. More
Supersizing the start-upVenture capitalist James Tan believes local tech enterprises need to think big to thrive.
“It will take more than money to produce the next Google or Facebook, argued Mr Tan. Unwilling to break out of their comfort zone in Singapore, many start-ups fail to think big and move into large markets, such as China or the United States.
Mr Tan should know what he’s talking about… The firm has since expanded – organically and through acquisitions – to almost 4,000 staff across 150 cities.” More
新加坡求索创投管理合伙人陈中不久前接受新华社记者专访时说，作为一名较早便在中国学习和工作的新加坡人，他愿继续为新加坡创业团队进军中国市场贡献自己的力量。More
Carousell has announced it is partnering with SPH Magazines to launch SheShops Marketplace. With the launch, readers will be able to shop for over 20,000 brand new or pre-loved items. More
Due to growth needs, pains, and challenges, China policy is fueling entrepreneurship at a massive scale and with intense competition. According to James Tan, GEL speaker and Managing Partner of QuestVC, Beijing is… More
The Singapore event had nine teams competing for the prizes, supported by local partners such as InfoQ, SegmentFault, QuestVC, and World Wildlife Federation (WWF). More
Encouraging entrepreneurshipQuestVC’s Managing Partner, James Tan, provided the following quote to The Business Times on encouraging entrepreneurship in Singapore.
“While there have been many new start-ups, our biggest weakness seems to be the inability of the businesses to scale up. Perhaps it is a general lack of global exposure – not perceiving how small the Singapore market is, not appreciating the vast potential of markets beyond our shores and a lack of understanding in how to enter these markets. We need to enable aspiring entrepreneurs to plan their business with scale in mind.
We should also give our youth more prolonged global exposure during student exchanges, study tours and overseas internship stints, and let them network with successful Singaporeans there.” More
这些潜在投资者包括QuestVC （求索创投）技术顾问、窝窝团合伙创建人之一潘国章。More
ETPL SDKs and Prizes for Baidu-QuestVC HackathonThe Baidu Open Cloud Hackathon is organised by the Baidu Developers Club and co-organised by QuestVC and SegmentFault. The event takes places in the key cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Taipei and Singapore. More
Kickstarters: China’s Innovation IncubatorsMentorship forms another cornerstone of the capabilities of China’s incubators. Chinaccelerator incubator has more than 60 mentors, among them James Tan, founder and Managing Director of the leading Chinese venture-capital firm QuestVC.
“Powerful mentors are rare in China,” says Josh Ong, tech-industry watcher for The Next Web site. “Guidance and insight to aid a start-up in overcoming challenges are some of the most important services an incubator can provide. It helps start-ups understand the value they can bring to the ecosystem.” Having world-class mentors onboard also boosts the incubator’s prestige, helping it to build its own products and brand, Ong adds. More
求索创投合伙伙伴，陈中，在中国加速10×10创业活动演讲。More
新加坡求索创投合伙人詹姆士·谭认为，东南亚移动互联网市场和中国有很多类似的地方，其中一点是同质化。More
Due to growth needs, pains, and challenges, China policy is fueling entrepreneurship at a massive scale and with intense competition. According to James Tan, GEL speaker and Managing Partner of QuestVC, Beijing’s Zhongguancun area next to Tsinghua, is the… More
本期“走近投资人”沙龙邀请到的是求索创投管理合伙人陈中。作为有着丰富投资经验的新加坡VC管理者，陈中直接了当介绍了今年的投资方向、投资流程及成功案例，紧接着各创业团队争相将自己的项目情况、业务模式做了进一步介绍，希望引起风投的兴趣。More
Food Discovery App Burpple Now Available On AndroidBacked by Quest Ventures, Burpple, the social discovery app that seeks to connect food lovers from around the world, just released their Android app in public beta. More
3 real startups (Frogo, Mashup and Kailoo), currently at a fundrasiing stage, and 3 real VCs (QuestVC, ZhenFund and Phillip Chow) helps out at SLP workshop. More
圆桌论坛二：下一阶段移动互联网创业趋势下午在网络点亮生活高峰论坛上，华视传媒VP朱华慈、新意互动移动互联网营销部总经理王甡、求索创投CEO陈中、31会议网CEO万涛、91无线高级市场总监郭云以及泰山兄弟&泰山天时创始合伙人陈亮一起就“互联网企业怎样转向移动互联网”、“下一阶段移动互联网创业趋势”发表了自己的观点。 . More
创业家俱乐部应邀出席北京青年创业工作联席会第三次会议求索创投、美特软件、新创思域等专业创业媒体、咨询机构和创业企业、创业青年的代表50余人参加了会议。More
Food journaling and discovery app Burpple has released its new Burpple Camera, which features six filters specifically designed to enhance photos of food and a tilt-shift blur effect. More
iSTART项目携饱贝食记、新旋律、LittleLives、人力才酷、门徒游戏以及思募等10余家年轻活力的初创企业登陆中国，求索创投的创始人陈中被选为iSTART@Beijing项目的导师之一，他同时也是窝窝团的联合创始人。More
James Tan, QuestVC’s Managing Director, judges at the IE Venture Day. More
据国外媒体报道，开发出同名iPhone美食分享应用的新加坡Burpple公司种子轮获得50万美元融资，本轮领投者为Neoteny Labs，参与者为中国的求索创投（QuestVC）。More
Social food diary, Burpple, receives US$500,000 in funding, led by Neoteny Labs together with QuestVC. Burpple, the social food diary app, today announced their latest funding leg by Neoteny Labs together with QuestVC to the tune of US$500,000… More
James Tan, from QuestVC in China, one of the jury members, added: “Waytag is a brilliant yet simple solution to improve how people interact and navigate on smartphones, it is much easier to use a unique one word address to find someone than a 5 line address… More
我们参访的公司都是不同领域的佼佼者，。。。开拓创意新领域的求索创投及创新工场，它让我更深入地认识中国的高科技创新市场。More
我们在iSTART项目中提供的最重要的支持环节就是导师，我们选择的导师通常都是在目标市场有着非常丰富的经验以及关系网，例如我们iSTART项目在北京的导师之一—求索创投的陈中。。。More
首届2012新加坡创业行动社群北京蓝天大会举行ACE海外小组委员会兼ACE北京分会主席陈中先生在会上表示，新加坡创业社群的成立为新加坡初创公司提供了一个软着陆平台，增强他们的决策力和执行力，增加他们创业成功的机会。More
Studying in China helpful for businessVeteran Straits Times reporter Grace Chng interviews James Tan. “To take on the giant Chinese market, it might be best for a Singaporean entrepreneur to start as a student. That is the advice of Mr James Tan, 37, co-founder of China’s second largest group-buying site, 55tuan. Today, 55tuan.com has eight-figure US revenue per month, with double-digit growth month-on-month… 55tuan.com sells a variety of things, such as beauty and travel products and clothes. It employs 3,900 workers and has expanded to 150 cities.”
CE海外小组委员会兼ACE北京分会主席陈中先生表示，新加坡创业社群的成立为新加坡初创公司提供了一个软着陆平台，增强他们的决策力和执行力，增加他们创业成功的机会。More
iSTART项目导师之一、求索创投(QuestVC)创始人及管理合伙人陈中先生表示：“希望能够与年轻一辈的初创企业家们分享自己对市场的认知以及相关的创业经验，在为初创企业家们照亮前行道路的同时，也能促进中新两国在资讯通信产业方面更多元的合作和交融。” More
本次iSTART项目的导师之一陈中先生这样评价。陈中在中国和新加坡有着10多年丰富的创业及管理经验，他是求索创投（QuestVC）的创始人及管理合伙人，同时也是窝窝团联合创始人。More
投资人观点：他们如何看待和选择本地生活服务企业。每次17Startup沙龙，我们都会邀请关注该细分领域的投资人一起参加，分享他们关于这个行业的看法，以及他们会从哪些方面来看待这个领域的创业公司，这次我们邀请了4位投资人，一起来看看：求索创投陈中：1）获取用户的能力；2）获取商户的能力；3）商业的设定和赚钱。More
“ACE Beijing provides a ‘by Singaporeans, for Singaporeans’ softlanding platform where mentors and entrepreneurs can sharpen their ideas and execution, thus improving their chances of success. We hope to eventually replicate this model in other cities,” says Mr James Tan, Chairperson of the ACE Overseas Chapter sub-committee. More
Startup event in Spain draws interest from Silicon Valley and ChinaQuestVC managing partner James Tan joins Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC and Ali Partovi, co-founder of iLike & LinkExchange and an angel investor in Dropbox; and other notable investors and entrepreneurs at the IE Venture Day held in Madrid, Spain. More
This week, we talked to James Tan from QuestVC, a venture capitalist firm based in China. QuestVC is China’s leading seed to angel fund for technology companies that have scalability and replicability in large internet communities. The founders… More
Coffee Chat with James Tan: A Singaporean Entrepreneur in ChinaWillis Wee spoke with James Tan, the co-Founder of 55tuan who we have written about before and managing partner at QuestVC. James discussed his own experiences going to China to do business there, and explained that while his experience there has been a… More
Our guest speaker, as well as a Jury member for the event will be Mr. James Tan, a well-known Angel investor based in Beijing and Singapore who will address the group on Startup Activity in China. More
来自北京的求索创投管理合伙人陈中告诉记者，“窝窝团”网站的一帮创始人，在发现团购网站的瓶颈之后，自己投资成立了求索创投。More
Willis Wee: I’m a keen admirer of James Tan. Many of you guys in Singapore might not know him because he is making his fortune in the big pond, China. More